It feels life-changing to me because I feel like I have this new life, and I really would like to hold onto it. I’m confident I will hold onto it because it’s such a better life than it used to be.
Worries about his appearance forced orthopaedic surgeon Paul to think twice about his lifestyle.
The self-confessed comfort eater weighed almost 110kg at his heaviest and was heading down a one-way street towards obesity.
High blood pressure, diluted energy levels, and a crippling lack of self-esteem were just some of the by-products of the life he was living.
Now questioning his own integrity as a spinal specialist and suffering from back pain himself because of his weight – he was determined to practice what he had been preaching to his clients.
He had devoted his whole career to preventing, diagnosing, and treating disorders of people’s health – but the time had now come to make himself a priority with Ultimate Performance in his corner.
With the excellence and expertise of his trainer, and by sticking to a structured personalised program, Paul was able to cut more than 20kg of body weight while transforming his life for the better.
He now looks and feels younger, has more fuel in the tank, his confidence is sky-high, and he’s able to spend more quality time with his children.
How he did it? Read Paul’s full story here…
What were your reasons and motivations for teaming up with U.P. to kickstart your fitness journey?
I have a stressful job as an orthopaedic surgeon, specialising in spinal surgery, and I occasionally relieve that stress by eating, drinking and socialising.
I found myself weighing 108.4kg and I realised that’s actually a lot, so I was looking to try and lose weight. I started myself, stripping a couple of kilos, but then I realised that I needed to have some extra assistance and counselling.
I started looking and that’s when I saw an advertisement for U.P. with all these unreal photos. I was curious, decided to go for my first meeting and realised maybe it was possible with the help of a personal trainer.
What were your worst habits coming into this? How and why do you feel your weight started to spiral out of control?
Before I joined U.P. my lifestyle was not as healthy as I wanted it to be. I was having long, stressful days, I wasn’t planning ahead, and I’d find myself ordering food at the last minute when hunger struck.
I don’t have breaks at work, I continuously keep doing what I do, so I would feel tired and drained just trying to survive the day by concentrating on my work.
Food gave me a spike in my glucose levels, I got energy from eating, so when I got home I just wanted to have that meal.
What was the straw that broke the camel’s back? Can you pinpoint the moment when it became clear to you that action was required?
It first started when I had a medical check-up for insurance purposes at work, and it revealed that my blood pressure was quite high. That got me thinking: was it stress-related, or was it my unhealthy lifestyle?
Also, I was getting more and more comments inferring that I was socially interesting in the sense that I like good food and good wine, and I’m funny and nice to hang around with.
However, I didn’t receive any comments on looking good in new clothes, etc. It was all that, together with weighing 108.4kg. I had measured my weight occasionally, but it became less and less the heavier I got. Eventually, I told myself that ‘enough is enough’.
What was your goal coming into this experience with U.P. and what did you feel you’d accomplished in conclusion?
My goal when I joined was weight loss and reducing my blood pressure. In all honesty, I wanted to feel happier, and healthier and I wanted to feel more confident.
I feel good now, I’m not worried about my physical health, my energy levels are good, my blood pressure has dropped, and my resting heart rate is very low, so that makes me feel confident that I’m not in a category of persons or patients who have a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases anymore.
That makes me feel good about myself! I’m also very confident that I can wear whatever I want because I’ve always been a fan of nice clothes. I think they look better on me now.
What are the biggest changes you see in your transformation and how does it make you feel?
The biggest changes I think is just how your physique is.
Not only did I gain more muscle, I lost some fat, but you also see it in my face. Some people didn’t recognise me anymore and said that I looked 10 years younger.
And in a way, I think that’s true. The change has been gradual, which is the best way, but it is huge and it makes me feel and look younger.
In your profession as a surgeon, working in medical care and assisting patients on a daily basis, what difference has losing weight made to you?
Has your transformation given you more confidence when communicating with clients during consultations?
In my work, it is quite important that you represent what you are advising your patients. I suffered from back pain myself, so, as a spine surgeon, you are not going to tell your patients that because a logical step would be to reduce your weight.
Now, if I talk to patients and they are overweight and suffering from back pain, I can advise them to lose some weight.
It’s very important that I am confident about myself but also that I’m confident in the advice that I’m giving to my patients on how to deal with their back pain and how they can relieve this by leading a healthier lifestyle.
Do you feel like this journey at U.P. has been life-changing for you, and why?
It feels life-changing to me because I feel like I have this new life, and I really would like to hold onto it. I’m confident I will hold onto it because it’s such a better life than it used to be.
I’m not being ignorant of obesity anymore because I’ve taken on this healthier lifestyle, and I’m really enjoying it.
I’m doing lots of activities. I can play outside with my children, and we go on long walks. They enjoy it very much as well; they’re coming outside more often, so that’s definitely a huge change.
Finally, if you had a message for anyone contemplating embarking on a fitness journey at U.P. what would it be?
There’s more that you can influence yourself than you might know and you can achieve your goals faster and in a way that you would not think possible!
When your health is on the line, a personal training program could be the best investment you ever make. You can trust our training team to make life-changing difference in just weeks.
- We show you the best, we don't show you the worst.
- We show you people who follow the plans, not those who are all talk.
- We show you those who inspire even us with their commitment to their results.
- You cannot get results exactly like these. You are unique and that means you can only get your own best possible results.
- Your results are a function of time spent following the plan; your genetic response to the right exercise and diet program; how hard you train; how consistently you come to the gym; how disciplined you are with your diet; & your starting point.
- Oftentimes the lower your starting point (poor fitness, terrible body composition) the better your results.
- We cannot do the work for you and the results you see here are a testament to the work ethic of our clients.
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Our reputation is that we are the best trainers in the world for helping you to unlock your potential, & we can lead you to the door, give you the key, even turn the handle and push the door open, but we cannot walk through it for you.
In the end the result is down to you.
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